Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
Maritime Training Programme
The Director General of Shipping, Mumbai has approved 156 Maritime Training Institutes in India. The employment of the seafarers on Indian or Foreign Ships depend on their being trained and certified in accordance with the international convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping  Convention, 1978 of International Maritime Organization , to which India is a signatory.
The Directorate has issued list of approved maritime training courses. All these approved maritime training courses are in line with IMO Model Course issued by International Maritime Organization  and as per Standard of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for seafarers  Convention, 2010. Further, Training, Examination and Assessment Programme  manual has been issued by the Directorate General of Shipping providing necessary guidelines and details of the training courses, sea going services and examination. Other than candidates/seafarers, there is a common course for faculties for the Maritime Training institutes i.e. Vertical Integration Course for Trainers .
E-learning: The Directorate had developed e-learning platform for the candidates to access study material for the Certificates of Competency examination for various grades and STCW Modular Courses. In E- Learning, the courses as per requirements of STCW covering all the competencies of each course have been created using three dimensional animations, perfect voice instructions and chapter wise examinations. It gives convenience for the student to attend at his own time but without compromising the duration of course hours. Photo verification while log in and during the course ensures that the right candidate is attending the course. Once course is completed by the students, his personal records are updated about this course on E-learning. The Directorate provided e-learning material at no cost to the candidates, which would help in overall improvement in the quality of the officers, ensuring their employability.
Online EXIT exams to seafarers and online results:- This common exit exam has been introduced to maintain uniform standards across India. Question Bank for this online system are prepared by one set of experts, and are vetted by another set of experts. Instant results are shown to avoid any kind of discrepancies. E-Proctoring mechanisms are incorporated into the software.
E-Certificate: The Directorate has introduced digitally signed e-certificate to a candidate who has completed successfully the three-tier system of learning, i.e. e-learning, class room/virtual class room learning, and online exit examination. The Maritime Training Institutes require that the Principal and Course In-charge shall electronically affix their signatures on e-certificates generated by the e-Governance system. The digitally generated e-certificates can be accessed by eligible candidates from DGS website. Similarly, on-line verification of authenticity of this e-certificates can be done by various authorities such as Shipping Companies, Port State etc from DGS website.
 Following steps have been taken by Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai to improve the quality of training: -
- Introduction of Comprehensive Inspection Programme  which is mandatory for all approved Maritime Training Institutes . The main objective of CIP is to assess, ensure and enhance the quality of training being imparted to the trainees by the Maritime Training Institutes. The MTI has to undergo annual CIP inspection by Recognized Organizations which are third parties and authorized by the DG Shipping. The ROs issue CIP certificate to MTIs with Gradings like A1, A2, B1, B2 i.e. from Excellent to Good Institute and C1 and C2 for poor and very poor performing Institute.
- The Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai from time to time also directMercantileMarineDepartments to carry out comprehensive and surprise inspections of the Institutes to keep a check in the quality of training and education by the MTIs.
An online exit examination for the STCW modular courses was started to bring at a uniform methodology required to carry out assessment of a candidate for the desired competency. Total number of seafarers appeared for online Exit Exam are 10,21,124 out of which 9,13,867 passed till 19.07.2022.
Online Exit Exam is the system free from any human interference, fully automatic, with e-proctoring facility covering all the topics of the approved courses. The probable Examination violation happens for the following reasons: If a student is replaced with some other person in between the exam, if some other person seen on the site, due to poor lighting where the image of the student could not be verified online during the exam or if the student clicks out of the browser then exam is terminated.
Before entering the exam, the details are verified online in relation to image of student, course, INDOS number, any parallel machines connected to computer during the exam, any mirroring software’s like team viewer, any desk etc., is connected to the exam, etc. If the student is not compiled for these checks, then he shall not be permitted to take the exam by this exam software automatically.
The efforts taken to reduce the online Exit Exam violations are as follows:
- The candidates are briefed about the system by the concerned Maritime Training Institutes before they appear for the online Exit Exam.
- The candidates have to read carefully the instructions appearing on the screen before start of the Exit Exam.
- Since reopening of the Maritime Training Institutes, online exit exams are being conducted under invigilation of the institute faculty.
The Directorate has further suspended three Maritime Training Institutes for a period of one year as they were found to be involved in the misconduct / manipulation of online exit exam. The INDOS number of the candidates who have been found involved in the Exit exam misconduct have been blocked for a period of six months thereby restricting them to join the ship.
This information was given by Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
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